


Out And About With the Mini-Captain

by guava



Series: Finally, After 1000 Years [6]
Category: Mirai Sentai Timeranger
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mostly Gen, my scifi is pasted on yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-03 12:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17284214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guava/pseuds/guava
Summary: A Londars uses technology from the thirtieth century to reverse Naoto's age. Until the Timerangers can change Naoto back, Tatsuya renews his friendship with little Naoto.





	Out And About With the Mini-Captain

Even as an adult, Tatsuya found it hard to cook up a convincing lie for his dad. 

"Hey dad, Naoto can't report to HQ as he's busy helping us with a new finishing move to defeat the latest Londars at large...I can't get him on the phone, because you see, uh, we're in a Timeranger human pyramid and Naoto is the fulcrum--" 

Before Tatsuya could continue, Domon grabbed the receiver and took over. 

"Prez, it's me, the leader of the Timerangers," Domon said. "I'm on the left of your son in the Timeranger human pyramid. This new finishing move absolutely requires six people to uh, be finished. We've dealt with Takizawa's allergy to teamwork by putting him at the bottom, because us Timerangers don't care about rank...hello? Hello?" 

Guessing that his dad had ended the call, Tatsuya sighed in relief. Now he could turn his attention back to the problem that had put Naoto out of action, but first...when did they make Domon the leader of the Timerangers? 

At Tatsuya's questioning look, Ayase said, "That's nothing, really. Just something that happened when Domon was being Domon in front of your father." 

Though Ayase didn't supply any more details, what he said explained a lot. Just as Domon flew at Ayase in a rage, demanding to know what he was insinuating, and Tatsuya was trying his best to keep both of them apart, Tatsuya's vote for the true leader of the Timerangers walked through the door. 

"Enough!" Yuuri ordered. "We've already got our hands full with a big kid. We don't need another two." 

A department store bag hung from her arm. She handed it to Tatsuya and said, "These should fit him." 

Tatsuya thanked her and peered inside. The bag contained a plain black T-shirt, a pair of jeans and sneakers from the store's children section - items that would fit a ten to twelve-year-old boy, which was the age that Tatsuya had estimated Naoto to have regressed into. 

It happened in a flash - one moment they were fighting the Londars, Naoto insisting that the others get out of his way when the Londars turned his weapon at Naoto. The bazooka didn't look dangerous at first with the clock attached at the end of its barrel. Then the hands of the clock began turning in an anti-clockwise direction and a blinding beam was set off, hitting Naoto bulls eye and forcing him out of his transformation due to his body shrinking rapidly. Everyone else stood aside as the beam faded and revealed an unconscious little boy lying where Naoto was, his small frame enveloped in the now oversized City Guardians uniform. 

Tatsuya had no idea how the Londars did it, but he knew what must be done. First, to find out how to turn Naoto back to normal and second, to keep what had happened from his dad and the rest of the City Guardians. Naoto had already suffered enough bad luck in being turned into a child and didn't need to face the possibility of being demoted on top of that. 

According to Tock, the key to turning Naoto back was in literally turning the hands of the Londars' Clock Bazooka the opposite way - clockwise instead of anti-clockwise to return the ten-ish years of biological time that Naoto had lost back to him. To do that, they needed to modify one of their guns to exert a magnetic force, which was a task best left to Sion. 

Sion was the last to return to Tomorrow Research, dragging behind him a huge cardboard box by one of its flaps. The box contained all sorts of scrap parts, all received for free or for extra service from Sion's regulars. 

"Don't worry, this will only take me a few hours," Sion assured everyone. "May I ask, how is Naoto?" 

"I'll check on him again and give him the clothes Yuuri bought," Tatsuya said, glancing at the room he shared with Ayase and Domon where they had placed the unconscious Naoto. "For the moment, we've managed to keep his condition a secret from my dad and the City Guardians." 

"That's great!" Sion cheered. "Tatsuya is going to hang out with him after he's awake, right? I wish I can join in, but I'll be busy with the modification. Please have fun in my place!" 

Tatsuya patted him on the head, keeping to himself his doubts about the fun that can be had, not with his personal funds in its current depleted state. As if reading Tatsuya's mind, Ayase chose that moment to offer him a white, rectangular envelope. The kind of envelope that one of his clients used to distribute his weekly pay. 

Tatsuya took it from him and tried to feel the envelope's edges for the yen bills slipped inside. "Could this be...?" 

"Use that to have fun with Takizawa," Ayase said. "I'll earn it back with another job I have tomorrow." 

"Ayase, you're a lifesaver!" 

When Tatsuya tried to express his gratitude with a hug, Ayase ducked. 

The distant future may hold horrors like the technology to turn adults into children in the blink of an eye, but the beauty of true friendship remained timeless. Tatsuya became even more resolved to help Naoto see through the day's ordeal and one day, make Naoto understand how great his friends from the thirtieth century were.

* * *

The day of fun with little Naoto began with a rocky start due to Part 2 of 'Tatsuya sucks at lying'. 

Along with the reversing of Naoto's biological time, Naoto's memories in his last ten-ish years were erased like a cassette tape that had been rewound to record minutes of silence. He could remember nothing about his adult life, going to college with Tatsuya and meeting Tatsuya for the first time when they were eighteen. Tatsuya couldn't bring himself to cook up a story about how he was a friend of Naoto's mom and dad, so he spilled the truth on Naoto actually being an adult and not really a kid. 

To that, Naoto said, "Bro, do you think I was born yesterday?" 

"No, you're born in 1978," Tatsuya replied. 

Naoto started. "How did you know?" 

"We're friends when you're an adult," Tatsuya said. "Naoto, what year do you think it is?" 

Naoto didn't reply and turned away from Tatsuya, his face a blank and betraying none of his thoughts. Tatsuya would like to know how old Naoto was now, both out of curiosity and to also adjust his way of interacting with little Naoto. He brought Naoto to a bookstore where he showed Naoto the rows and rows of calendars with the year 2000 printed on all of them. 

"See, we're in the twenty-first century now," Tatsuya said. 

When Naoto still remained quiet, Tatsuya continued, "There's no way I could've printed all of these just to fool you." 

"I guess," Naoto admitted with a hint of defeat in his tone. 

He fidgeted and darted his gaze all around the bookstore, showing Tatsuya more of his anxiety than his adult self would. Maybe Tatsuya could better comfort Naoto once he knew how far little Naoto's life was behind 2000. 

Bending to be at eye level with Naoto, Tatsuya asked, "Naoto, how old are you?" 

"How old do you think I am, bro?" Naoto shot back. 

"Maybe ten? You seem like you're bigger than other kids your age." 

"That's cause I'm sixteen." 

"Really?!" 

Tatsuya received Naoto's 'you a dummy or what?' smirk in return. It seemed that at whatever age Naoto currently was, he had already perfected that smirk which Tatsuya was familiar with. 

"Well," Tatsuya said, rising to his full height, "then you're pretty small for a sixteen-year-old." 

In the end, he used his interactions with the boys that he had taught karate to as reference for planning what he and Naoto should do together. He realized that little Naoto reminded him of his tougher, more withdrawn students who preferred to not get too close to the other kids. They'd tell Tatsuya that it was because they found the others to be too childish, making Tatsuya suspect that they were secretly shy and needed more time and help to make friends. 

So he took Naoto to a batting cage center, where there weren't many kids around in the middle of the afternoon. As the two of them swung their baseball bats at the ball launched by the pitching machines, Naoto glanced over at Tatsuya from time to time. Tatsuya tried to remain casual while he played in his individual cage, wondering how Naoto saw him now. He couldn't remember the last time he had picked up a bat or a mitt, yet he didn't think his baseball skills had gotten rusty at all. 

"Bro, am I a baseball player in 2000?" Naoto asked. 

"Nope," Tatsuya said and took another swing. "But you were an athlete. We were in the same karate club back in college." 

"Yeah, I do know karate," Naoto said, as if talking to himself. "Is the adult me supposed to be working now? You're an adult, so why aren't you at work?" 

That's the same Naoto all right, always asking the hard questions. 

Tatsuya said, "I'm off today. And I helped you to take a day off." 

"Do we work together?" 

"Nope. Your boss is my dad." 

Tatsuya probably didn't need to tell Naoto that. He didn't think it would do any harm to share information that little Naoto wanted to know, for if their places were reversed, Tatsuya would be pestering Naoto with even more questions about how his life had turned out and what kind of person he had become. On that train of thought, he wondered what Naoto would do with the kid version of him and came to the conclusion that he didn't need to. The answer was certain: they'd go to the research lab, run tests on finding out how the Londars did what he did and then little Tatsuya would be sent back to his parents' home. 

His mom would cry tears of joy, while his dad...to keep himself from elaborating on this imaginary situation, Tatsuya concentrated on his next hit. The ball met his bat with a satisfying crack and if he had been playing a real game, that could have resulted in a home run. 

"You're good," Naoto commented. 

"Thanks. You're playing well too," Tatsuya returned Naoto's compliment. "Maybe even the big you won't remember that in college, we took a baseball class once under a baseball legend. He's--" 

He motioned Naoto to come closer to the netting that separated their cages so he could bend down and whisper the name of their former baseball teacher. 

"No way!" Naoto gasped. 

For the first time, Tatsuya noticed little Naoto's excitement for his future. 

* * *

"Naoto, do you like ice-cream?" 

"I don't hate it." 

"What's your favourite flavor?" 

"Don't have one."

When Tatsuya bought two chocolate scoops on cones from a stand and gave one to Naoto, Naoto's eyes lit up with glee. Tatsuya grinned, thinking that he'd be a real dummy if he thought that a small boy wouldn't be into chocolate ice-cream. After he led Naoto to sit at an empty bench near the ice-cream stand, they ate their cones in silence. 

Between licks, Naoto said, "You know, you're kind of cool...for a pervert."

"Um, what?" So shocking were Naoto's words that Tatsuya nearly smashed the tip of his nose into his ice-cream. 

"Dressing me in that weird uniform while I was asleep is pretty perverted." 

"I've told you, after you were attacked by the criminal from the future--" 

Tatsuya stopped himself there. It wouldn't help to repeat his explanation, not when it failed to convince and reassure Naoto the first time. 

Besides, Naoto didn't seem to care to hear it again as he crunched on the last of his cone, getting melted chocolate all over the corners of his lips and chin. As he took the paper napkin that Tatsuya offered him to clean his face, he winked in a way that gave Tatsuya the chills. 

Changing tactics, Tatsuya asked, "Would you like to call someone you already know? How about your mom and dad?" 

Though Tatsuya had never heard Naoto talk about his parents, he assumed that the Takizawas were still alive. Aside from Naoto's family, he couldn't think of any other common thread that might join the present to little Naoto's life. 

"Do you know my parents?" Naoto asked. 

"No," Tatsuya said. "But we can look them up in the phonebook." 

It occurred to him that Naoto's parents might not be living together anymore. While he was thinking of backtracking and apologizing for making assumptions, he sensed Naoto getting up from the bench to stand before him. 

"Hey bro," Naoto said. 

"Hmm?" 

Tatsuya looked up and received a punch in the nose. 

The pain from the impact made him cry out and scrunch his eyes shut. When he reopened them, he brought the back of his hand to his nose to wipe away the blood that had poured out of his nostrils. He had no time to sit still and stanch the flow. Blinking through tears that had gathered in his eyes, he tried to find Naoto. Tatsuya caught him at the edge of his peripheral vision just in time and gave chase, his blood dripping onto his shirt as he ran. 

Unsurprisingly, Naoto ran fast. Perhaps he had been planning to make his escape from the start. Tatsuya was out of ideas to get Naoto to stick with him until the Londars turned up with his Clock Bazooka again, but he chased as hard as he could all the same. 

When his ChronoChanger beeped as he ran down a narrow alley towards Naoto, he pressed the button to answer the call and heard Tock call his name. 

"Tock!" Tatsuya shouted, barely having enough breath to speak. "I'm a little held up here! I'll join the others as fast as I can!" 

"They're coming to you now," Tock said. "The Londars is close to you! He's after Naoto's life!" 

No sooner than Tock had informed Tatsuya of the Londars' position, Naoto screamed. The Londars was already closing onto them and with his bazooka hoisted on one overly broad shoulder, the weapon all ready to be fired. 

"Well, well, TimeFire," the Londars sneered. "Care for another taste of this? It'll set you back...back to the day you were born!" 

Tatsuya activated his transformation, changing into his suit at the moment when the Clock Bazooka's hands started their revolution. He thought he heard Sion's voice calling after him, but he couldn't be sure. He only had a second to hope that it was really Sion there with the modified gun before he leapt into the line of the Londars' fire, shielding Naoto from taking a second hit of the de-aging beam. 

'I can afford to lose some years,' Tatsuya thought, bracing for the change to happen. 

"Tatsuya, please turn Naoto around!" 

That was undoubtedly Sion. Tatsuya didn't hesitate to scoop Naoto up and turn him in the direction of the beam, catching Naoto's expression of confusion and fear. 

From Naoto's perspective, Tatsuya's actions wouldn't have made any sense. One moment Tatsuya was protecting him and in the next he was putting Naoto in the way of a direct blow. Tatsuya had become so used to handling such twists and turns while fighting as a Timeranger that he had forgotten how terrifying it all must be for a little boy, even one who'd grow up to become a hardened warrior. 

"I'm sorry, Naoto," Tatsuya said, hugging Naoto close as the blinding beam enveloped them both.

* * *

Unlike the seconds that it took to reverse Naoto's biological time, the re-reversing of said time would take hours to take effect. Tatsuya chose to end his day with Naoto by going back to Naoto's place so Naoto could wake up in his own home and in his original body (hopefully) by tomorrow morning.

Naoto's home address was printed on the back of his staff ID card which Tatsuya had found in one of the pockets of Naoto's City Guardians uniform. This and the rest of Naoto's things were packed into a department store bag that Tatsuya brought with him as he took Naoto to have some dinner.

They went to an ordinary family restaurant where they sat at a booth and ordered water and chicken curry rice for two. After freeze compressing the Londars, stopping by the hospital to fix his nose and going back home to fetch Naoto's things, Tatsuya was bushed. He found himself too tired to have an appetite and just idly pushed his food about on his plate while rubbing at the gauze taped over the bridge of his nose. 

On the verge of spacing out, he heard Naoto say, "Do I still live with my parents?" 

"Beats me."

"Are you mad at me?" 

"Not now." 

Tatsuya spoke without thinking. As he saw Naoto's face fall, he had a flashback of a similar situation happening before with himself in Naoto's place and his dad in his current position, using the same passive-aggressive tone to get Tatsuya to wonder what he did wrong. He rushed to fix his mistake by transferring one of his chicken onto Naoto's plate. 

"Don't worry about it," Tatsuya said. "It has just been a long day, that's all. By the way, you've got a good punch that'll take you far in the next karate interhigh." 

"...I'm actually ten." 

Tatsuya had to resist the urge to shout, 'I KNEW IT!' 

"You sure can punch like a sixteen-year-old. Keep on training!" 

Naoto looked down to hide his little smile at Tatsuya cheering him on. He finished everything on his plate, eating every piece of curry-coated carrot and radish without a word of complaint, and said thanks for his meal. 

Since little Naoto was indeed still a child, it wouldn't be out of place for Tatsuya to praise him for being a good boy. Instead, Tatsuya offered him a piggyback ride as he bent his knees to allow Naoto to get on his back. 

"Are you sure?" Naoto poked Tatsuya twice on the shoulder, probably just because he could. "You're injured." 

"Well, I don't think that you're going to break my back. Come on!" 

Naoto climbed on. He was a lot lighter than he looked and Tatsuya regretted not feeding him more throughout the day. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, Tatsuya retrieved the slip of paper on which he had copied Naoto's address. His home was within walking distance from where they were. 

Mid-way through their journey, Tatsuya felt Naoto tightening his arms a fraction, pulling Tatsuya closer so he could rest his head on Tatsuya's shoulder. He alternated between relaxing and fidgeting about, as if wanting to nod off but keeping himself from doing so.

"Naoto, are you tired?" Tatsuya asked. "You can sleep if you want. I won't leave you alone."

Naoto shook his head twice against Tatsuya's shoulder. "Still wanna have fun. With you..."

"We can do that when you're big again," Tatsuya promised, though he doubted that Naoto would still want to.

Naoto sniffed, then thumped his forehead once on Tatsuya's shoulder before relaxing completely. Tatsuya would miss this sweeter, gentler side of his friend that was buried under twelve years of growing up. He was proud to have gained the trust of little Naoto in their short time together, even if he had only managed to do so at the end.

"Bro," Naoto murmured, "I like you..."

"I like you too, Naoto."

The night may be getting colder, but Tatsuya's heart was warm from having Naoto with him. 

_**Epilogue: Day of fun with big Naoto** _

Naoto was crushing him. Skilfully, mercilessly under the blazing sun where Naoto insisted on a 're-match' back at the baseball batting cages.

Tatsuya had swung his bat so many times that its shape was beginning to be imprinted on the skin of his palm. As the next ball whizzed past his next half-hearted swing, he threw his bat aside and slumped down on the ground.

His head spun and looking over at the cage beside him, Naoto wasn't looking too hot either. Sweat was streaming down his face and he couldn't stop squinting due to the sun's glare, yet he maintained his tight grip around his bat.

"It has been hours!" Tatsuya shouted at him. "Going past this point is just pure torture!"

"You were the one who said we could have fun," Naoto said. "Gonna go back on your word, Asami?"

Tatsuya just groaned and lied flat on his back, the very picture of defeat.

Still, he let Naoto drag him across town to cover the path where Tatsuya had walked with Naoto's little self. At the same ice-cream stand that was open for business, Naoto bought a cone each for both of them and asked the seller to pile on three scoops of the available flavours--vanilla, chocolate and strawberry--on each cone.

Tatsuya couldn't help but gawk as he was handed his treat, amazed at Naoto's generosity and excited about the rare indulgence of gorging on that much ice-cream on an ordinary afternoon.

"Close your mouth, I can see your biological time reversing," Naoto said.

Tatsuya shut his mouth and licked on the top chocolate scoop of his cone. He admitted that just as he had never been the most mature kid, he wasn't a hundred percent 'grown up' as an adult.

'Then again,' he thought as he turned back to Naoto, 'neither is he.'

"What?" Naoto snapped, annoyed at having to acknowledge Tatsuya in between furious licks of all three layers on his cone and getting spots of white, chocolate and pink all over his face.

"Nothing." 

He turned away to get a paper napkin for Naoto from the ice-cream stand. Tucking away the fresh memory of Naoto's messy eating habits, he smiled at the discovery of another thread that connected Naoto's past to their shared present.

**Author's Note:**

> The nose-punching is inspired by Nagai Masaru's (Tatsuya's actor) getting a similar injury on set while filming episode 17. See the 'Message from the actor' section at the bottom of [ this page](http://jillun.com/sentai/time/tatsuya.html). 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I miss the convenience of handwaving the mechanics behind the villains' schemes just /like that/, but coming up with pasted on scifi is fun too!


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